Tag Archives: Atlantic bluefin
Fisheries nations to decide fate of declining bigeye tuna
Dozens of nations with commercial fisheries in the Atlantic Ocean will grapple next week with a new finding that bigeye tuna, the backbone of a billion dollar business, is severely depleted and overfished.,,, An internal report by 40-odd scientists working under the inter-governmental International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), finalised last week, shows that populations have fallen to less than 20 percent of their historic levels. Even more critical, the stock is barely half the size needed to support a “maximum sustainable yield”—the largest catch that can be taken without compromising long-term stability of the species. Current harvests, overwhelmingly legal, are also more than 60 percent above levels that would give bigeye at least a fighting chance of recovering its numbers, the report said. >click to read<15:46
P.E.I. tuna fishery just getting started
They set sail on the Ocean Drifter out of Alberton Harbour at 4:30 a.m. on Thursday and they were back in port six hours later with a 744-pound bluefin. “I didn’t think he was that big,” Captain Wallace said, indicating he thought the fish probably weighed 500 to 600 pounds prior to bringing him onboard. He then upped his estimate to 700 to 750 pounds before learning just how close the scales put the weight to his higher number.,, The season opened Aug. 2 and , so far, only about a dozen tuna have been landed. click here to read the story 14:32
Searching for Atlantic bluefin tuna larvae and more in the Slope Sea
The NOAA Vessel Gordon Gunter departed on June 10 from Newport, Rhode Island, and immediately headed off the continental shelf to water deeper than 1,000 meters (about 3,300 feet) known as the Slope Sea. The Slope Sea is an area of the ocean that is bounded to the north and west by the northeast United States Continental Shelf and to the south by the Gulf Stream, whose dynamic currents provide a strong influence over the area.,,, In recent decades, the common view of Atlantic bluefin tuna was that they spawned only in two places, the Mediterranean Sea in the Eastern Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico in the western Atlantic. However, in the summer of 2013 two cruises sampled the Slope Sea, both of them achieving noteworthy catch rates of early-stage bluefin tuna larvae. These collections were consistent with a hypothesis first put forward in the 1950s that the Slope Sea was a third spawning ground for this species. Follow up sampling in 2016 again achieved notable catch rates of bluefin tuna larvae. click here to read the story 15:37
Canada: Atlantic bluefin tuna not listed as an endangered species
Atlantic bluefin tuna will not be listed on the endangered species list, a decision released Wednesday. The federal government’s final decision was published in the Canada Gazette saying it would not be listed under the Species at Risk Act (SARA). Fisheries and Oceans Canada rejected advice to list the species as endangered last summer, saying western Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks have been rebuilding since 2011, when the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) said tuna should be listed as an endangered species under federal species-at-risk legislation. Included in the decision was the government’s rationale and the steps that will be taken to help in its recovery. If the species would have been listed on SARS, it would no longer have been allowed to be fished commercially. The in Halfax is calling on the government to take steps to work and conserve the species. (of course!) click here to read the story 08:21
P.E.I. tuna fisherman getting 30 ton Atlantic bluefin quota increase
According to a news release from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, there are more than 300 tuna fishermen across P.E.I. Jeff MacNeill is one of them. He says the increase in quota could bring in a lot of extra income, especially given that last year, fishermen were receiving about $6,000 to $7,000 for an average-sized tuna. “If I’m allowed one extra bluefin tuna, that’s quite a sizeable increase in my income” Read the rest here 07:53
New limits and dates set for Atlantic bluefin fishing
Atlantic bluefin tuna limits are being altered. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued a temporary rule in the Federal Register of Friday, May 15, 2015 changing the retention limits for the general and angling categories and announcing a new start date for the purse seine category. The new limit for the general category runs from June through August while the new limit for the angling category is in effect immediately and lasts through the end of the year. Read the rest here 14:04
Do any of these issues, and notions bother you? Or is it only me?!!
The Monterey Bay Aquarium is gathering leaders in science, activism, media and the seafood industry at its home-base in Monterey, California for two days of in-depth discussions on sustainable food — especially seafood — this week. The event, “Sustainable Foods Institute”. Issues: Consultant: Thai slave labor reports are real – Whiskas maker to get into aquaculture by 2020 – Paleo diet days numbered, says panelist – Atlantic bluefin tuna stock down 96% on management failure – Damanaki floats idea of US-EU-Japan collaboration on global fisheries protection – Stakeholders relay ‘blood and guts’ story of West Coast groundfish climb to sustainability – Aquarium pumping expertise into ASEAN sustainability efforts Read the rest here 14:43
